Easy opening win for Ballinascreen hurlers

Ballinascreen 2-23 ... Eoghan Rua 0-8

It was a comfortable opening round victory in the Leadon Timber Frame Hurling Championship Group B for last year’s Junior champions Ballinascreen on Saturday evening as their cruised to a 21-point victory in Owenbeg.

The eventual winners dominated from start to finish and ended the game as a contest with goals either side of the break to end any Eoghan Rua resilience. Despite being on the back foot, the Coleraine lads were hanging in there until Noel Rafferty struck the opening goal on 29 minutes to help ‘Screen lead at the midway point 1-12 to 0-5.

The sides had met in last year’s junior semi-final, a game ‘Screen also had won easily and after racing five points clear after 11 minutes, it was already looking good for the St Colm’s men.

Paul Cleary was immense and had five of his sides first eight points in a dominant opening 20 minutes. Aaron Kelly struck the butt of the post in the lead up to the opening point but Reece McSorley was on hand to fire over. Kelly did get one soon after as they raced five clear before Kosta Papachristopoulos opened his side’s account. When Kosta landed his third free and his side’s fifth the scoreboard read 0-10 to 0-5 and Eoghan Rua would have still felt they were in the game while ‘Screen may have been somewhat disappointed as they had dominated but wasted a lot of scoring opportunities.

However with 1-2 before the break they opened up a little daylight. Cleary, Eamon Conway and Eoin McCallion were involved in the build-up to set Rafferty up for the finish to the net. After a Cleary free came goal number two and this time it was Conway on the end of the move after taking an offload from Kelly. When Sean Leo McGoldrick landed his side’s first of the half, the deficit was out to 15 following 2-4 without reply either side of the break from the winners.

Ruairi Mooney followed with another but as hard as they tried nothing was falling their way in front of goal as they searched for an all-important major.

Ballinascreen were sharper and more clinical although they will know improvements on the scoring front will be required as the championship progresses. In Cleary they have a top scorer and he finished with a personal tally of eight points. Kelly also offered the team a lot with his movement in the inside forward line while Caolan Connery off the bench contributed 0-3.

For Eoghan Rua, they have limited number to pick from but Lorcan McMullan had a fine game and was easily their best player on the day. With both Swatragh and Banagher to come the Coleraine lads will probably be looking at the junior playoffs.

IN PICTURES: Balllinascreen cruise to victory against Eoghan Rua

Meanwhile, for Ballinascreen following the junior success last year they will be hoping to progress from the group in the top two which will require a win over either of the two group favourites now in their remaining fixtures. They know improvements will be required but they showed plenty of positives to say they can have a major impact in the push for those all-important two spots. The next step is against fellow round 1 winners Swatragh.

Team and Scorers

Ballinascreen: P Cleary 0-8 (3f), E Conway 1-2, N Rafferty 1-1, A Kelly 0-4, C Connery 0-3 , E McCallion 0-2, S Grant, E McSorley and C McBride 0-1 each.

Eoghan Rua: K Papachristopoulos (f) and S L McGoldrick 0-3 each, L McMullan (65) and R Mooney 0-1 each

Ballinascreen: Martin Mulgrew; Jamie Lee McGlade, John McAllister, Andy McBride; Dean Flanagan, Ciaran Doyle, Shane Grant; Ruairi McWilliams, Rory O’Kane; Eamon Conway, Reece McSorley, Paul Cleary; Eoin McCallion, Noel Rafferty, Aaron Kelly.

Subs: Ronan O’Kane for Conway (38), C Connery for McSorley (45), C McBride for Flanagan (50).

Eoghan Rua: Kevin McCarry; Pearse Dallas, Ciaran Lagan, Emmet Morrisson; Oisin Hasson, Lorcan McMullan, Brian Og Murphy; Adam Kerr, Danny McGarry; Sean Leo McGoldrick, Kosta Papachristopoulos, Ruairi Mooney; Peter Passmore, Niall Holly, Ciaran Lenihan.

Subs: Anton Mcintyre for Hasson (41), Eoghan McArdle for Papachristopoulos (44), Joseph Mooney for Murphy (49), Hasson for Holly (56).

Referee: Aidan McAleer.

Player of the Match - Paul Cleary was easily the standout player on show in this game. He was quality from the start and some of his point taking was from the top drawer. A player that will be key for where ‘Screen end up in this championship. Other players to shine were Jamie Lee McGlade in defence along with Shane Grant while Aaron Kelly and Eamon Conway also caught the eye.

Turning Point - Surprisingly, despite Ballinascreen dominating, just six points separated the sides with half-time approaching. Then with Noel Rafferty netting and Eamon Conway adding a second major after the break, the game was over and suddenly either side of the break the difference went to 15 points.

Score of the Game - There was some superb point taking from the Ballinscreen lads but the opening goal was all about the quick hands and movement. Paul Cleary fed Eamon Conway who in-turn played in Eoin McCallion while Noel Rafferty pulled out into space and McCallion found him to set him up for the finish.